About This Course


There is a severe lack of public knowledge available when it comes to Unreal Engine game performance. In this course I aim to bridge that enormous gap from building your game, to running it at 60 FPS on your target platforms.

The public information is often outdated, surface level, or teach bad practices. In this course we dive deeper than any public resource ever has and focus on the process and best practices to optimize your game with confidence after completing this course.

Unreal Engine is a complicated piece of software, throughout the course you will gain a solid understanding of how the many CPU threads and GPU operate and how it all ties together to create a fully rendered frame. We’ll dive deep into the process of profiling, finding bottlenecks and discovering opportunities to improve the overall performance.

Although the process of optimizing games is often highly bespoke per project...There are still many common issues that most developers will run into. Sometimes (too) late in their development cycle. We’ll make sure you are well informed and show you every step needed to both avoid and fix performance issues easily.

Built for AAA and Indie Developers alike


The course is created for a wide audience, covering a wide range of performance related subjects. Whether you’re an indie developer or a specialist at a AAA Studio…the course has content tailored to your needs.

What You'll Learn


  • Best Practices on the Profiling and Optimization process.
  • Core profiling tools such as Unreal Insights and many more.
  • Deep Dives into Unreals many systems and features.
  • Critical performance Information which normally remains within private studio doors and UDN (Unreal Developer Network).
  • Discover what you didn't know you needed before it's too late in development. 


Unreal Insights Deep Dive

Unreal Insights is quickly becoming the central profiling tool for the entirety of Unreal Engine 5.

We'll deep dive into Insights together, focusing on much more than just the basic UI. Instead we use it throughout the course to show performance issues, and thoroughly understand how your game code is executing and your game world being rendered by the engine in order to find optimization opportunities.


Curriculum

Check out the curriculum below for an insight in the available content.


  0. Getting Started
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  1. Notable Performance Improvements in Unreal Engine Releases
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  2.1 Fundamentals
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  2.2 Profiling Preparation
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  3.1 Profiling Tools - Unreal Insights
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  3.2 Profiling Tools - Content & Scene
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  3.3 Profiling Tools - GPU & Rendering
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  3.4 Profiling Tools - Memory
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  3.5 Profiling Tools - Misc.
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  3.6 Profiling Tools - Third-party
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  4. The Unreal Engine Architecture
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  5.1 Case Study - Lyra Starter Game
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  5.2 Case Study - Dark Ruins Megascans Environment
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  6.1 Gameplay Programming - General
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  6.2 Gameplay Programming - Blueprint Performance
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  6.3 Gameplay Programming - C++ Performance
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  6.4 Gameplay Programming - Ticks, Timers, and Timelines
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  6.5 Gameplay Programming - Multithreading
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  6.6 Gameplay Programming - Collision & Physics
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  6.7 Gameplay Programming - Audio
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  6.8 Gameplay Programming - Resources & Self Study
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  7. Memory - Garbage Collection
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  8. Content - Skeletal Animation
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  9. World Optimizations
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  10.X Rendering - Lumen
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  10.2 Rendering - Nanite
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  10.3 Rendering - Virtual Shadow Mapping
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  10.4 Rendering - Lighting
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  10.5 Rendering - Niagara Effects
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  10.6 Rendering - Materials
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  10.7 Rendering - PSO Caching (Windows DX12)
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  10.8 Rendering - Visibility & Occlusion
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  10.9 Rendering - Variable Rate Shading
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  10.10 Rendering - Resources & Self Study
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  11. Platform Scalability
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  12. UI - Slate & UMG
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  Wrapping Up
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Meet Your Instructor: Tom Looman

Tom Looman has over 15 years of game development and Unreal Engine experience at both studios such as Guerrilla Games and Epic Games and as an indie developer along with many years of contract work focusing on gameplay and game performance (The Forever Winter, The Talos Principle 2, Deliver Us Mars, Tales of Kenzara: Zau and others).

He has been writing Unreal Engine articles for 10+ years on a wide range of topics with a focus on C++, materials, and game optimization.

Alongside his programming work he is an online instructor for (AAA) studios and Indies through online training and previously taught a curriculum at Stanford University on C++ Game Development with Unreal Engine.

Learning Tracks for Engineers & (Tech) Artists


Watch all content at your own pace or choose a Learning Track to follow what’s most relevant to your role at the studio.

All lessons are divided into Gameplay and Graphics learning tracks to make it easier to find lessons most valuable to your specialization. This way you can optimize your learning experience.

Get Started Today!

The Game Optimization Course is currently in Early Access! With over 65+ lessons completed and more content added consistently!

Bulk enrollment for your studio?

We offer flexible and bespoke bulk license deals and alternative payment options! Please contact me using this form or directly via [email protected] to discuss options and save on bulk enrollment.

Require only one license for someone on the team? Use the "Purchase for someone else" option during checkout.

FAQ


When does the course start and finish?

It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.

How long do I have access to the course?

After enrolling, you have unlimited time access to this course.

What if I am unhappy with the course?

If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact me in the first 30 days and I will give you a full refund.

What does Early Access mean for this Course?

The Early Access Program allows me to get you a large amount of completed content right now and informs me of the student desires for additional content. With potentially hundreds of videos to make, I want to ensure I spent the time wisely and make the videos with the highest demand first.

For how long will this course be supported?

Much like my other courses, support and updates will continue for many years. There is no end in sight and as Unreal changes, so will this course.

Are English Captions Available?

Yes! Every lesson has English subtitles.

Which version of Unreal Engine was this course created with?

At this time, most lessons were recorded with UE 5.4 and 5.5. New content will always be recorded with the latest release.

Can this course be used with Unreal Engine 4?

Yes! While Unreal Engine 5 has introduced many amazing new features and optimizations...a lot of topics we covered already existed in UE4 too. A lot of projects are still in production using older versions, the course is compatible to cater to this audience as well.

Is there any regional pricing available?

Don't hesitate to reach out directly via [email protected] to discuss regional pricing options. I want to make sure that my course is accessible to everyone.

Do I need to know C++ or have other programming experience?

No. While there are a few places where C++ is used. A large portion of the course does not require programming know-how. For example, we cover a lot of graphics features, profiling tools, checkboxes, console variables etc. which don't rely on programming experience.

What kind of teacher support is available?

There is a Q&A section with every lesson. Feel free to ask questions there or in the new Community Hub!